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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; A homicide trial for a Hazleton man accused in a fatal stabbing nearly three years ago was delayed until 2019.</p><p>Luzerne County Judge Tina Polachek Gartley on Monday granted a request to continue the trial for Gene Anthony Hawkins, 48, until March.</p><p>Hawkins&#8217; attorneys, Ed Olexa and and Stephen Geist, requested the trial be delayed due to the availability of a witness.</p><p>Olexa and Geist claimed the witness would not be available to testify at Hawkins&#8217; trial if it began as scheduled Aug. 20.</p><p>Prosecutors Chester Dudick and Angela Sperrazza did not object to the trial being continued.</p><p>Polachek Gartley said jury selection will now begin March 4.</p><p>It is the third time Hawkins&#8217; trial has been pushed back, according to court records.</p><p>Hazleton police arrested Hawkins, also known as &#8220;Sin,&#8221; hours after he allegedly stabbed Lashaun Overton, 34, of Brooklyn, New York, during a dispute outside an apartment building at 21st and Grant streets on Sept. 3, 2015.</p><p>Police found a bloody Overton hunched over. He later died at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Hazleton.</p><p>An autopsy revealed Overton died from a stab wound to the chest, according to the county coroner&#8217;s office.</p><p>Witnesses said they heard two or three gunshots and spotted several people standing in front of the apartment building while arguing. Overton had a knife but did not threaten Hawkins with it, authorities said.</p><p>Hawkins then retreated to his apartment and, with a knife in his hand, confronted and lunged at Overton, stabbing him in the chest, according to court records.</p><p>Hawkins remains jailed at the county correctional facility without bail.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_Gene-Hawkins-Hazleton-homicide.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hawkins </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_Gene-Hawkins-Hazleton-homicide.jpg</photo0><caption0>Hawkins </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Ed Lewis</p><p>elewis@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

Hazleton homicide trial pushed back to early 2019